Chapter 23 (1/2)

(click name for link to their blog), recently asked me where Tang Li's nickname (Chestnut) came from.

His name in Chinese characters is 唐栗 (Tang Li) and the character 栗, which is his first name, means chestnut. So his actual nickname written in the text is 栗子 (p.r.o.nounced Li Zi), which literally means ”chestnut child”. I'm pretty sure 子, is used in affection for calling children, much like ”Xiao”. Though I'm not completely sure about the subtleties attached to it, such as how appropriate it is to call a child that if you aren't close to them. I a.s.sumed it was like calling someone else's child “baby” as a term of affection when your not close to the parent or child. A big no go.

Anyway, I could have left it as Li Zi for his nickname in the translation but I thought the English translation of “Chestnut” would be much cuter.

Shortly after Shen Yu spoke, he heard a girl shouting Lei Yumeng's name and then swearing and shouting a lot of words. Although Shen Yu could not hear all of them clearly, he could still feel that…

This little girl is clearly being bullied!

Shen Yu frowned and looked up at Uncle Zhang.

Obviously, Uncle Zhang thought of this too, and his expression was slightly dignified, waiting for Shen Yu to speak.

“Let's go and have a look.” Shen Yu said.

“Right away.” Uncle Zhang nodded and pushed Shen Yu's wheelchair to go find the source of the sound.

Shortly afterwards, they saw the figures of several girls in front of a bungalow stacked with debris near the playground. One of the girls was laying half on the ground, in a disgraceful posture, holding her head in pain.

Shen Yu narrowed his eyes and recognized the girl at first glance.

Lei Yumeng.

Sure enough, it was bullying.

The other girls surrounded Lei Yumeng and looked down at her. One girl kicked Lei Yumeng fiercely, then reached out and pulled her hair.

Lei Yumeng gave a painful cry and was forced to look up at the girls.

“Just how old are you? I'm too shy to fall in love with him at this age, yet you want to be this shameless?” The girl in front of Lei Yumeng sneered, she had obviously taken the lead in the bullying.

“If she had any pride, she wouldn't be following him around all day and night like a little lap dog.” Another girl on the sidelines laughed happily and sneered, “This kind of att.i.tude, we should teach her some manners.”

Then they kicked Lei Yumeng harshly.

Lei Yumeng cried out bitterly. She was pale, and a cold sweat appeared on her forehead. Her eyes were tightly closed, and she could hardly speak from the pain.

“Now…” The leading girl bent down and smiled to Lei Yumeng. “How many times have I told you that he's mine and you can't have him?”

Hearing this, the other girls immediately echoed similar words.

“That's right, he belongs to Manman. You dare chase him. Don't you know that Manman has been waiting for him to get to middle school?”

“I advise you to quit chasing him. Don't bother yourself. It'd be a shame if we had to beat you a second time today.”

While the girls kept chirping, Lei Yumeng had her eyes tightly closed and her body rigidly held as she was being pulled by her hair. She did not respond at all.

When the leading bully saw the situation, she suddenly became angry and raised her palm to slap Lei Yumeng's face.

But before her hand could fall, it was s.n.a.t.c.hed by a middle-aged man who appeared behind her.

The girl was frightened and turned her head in panic. Her eyes were level with the shoulders of the middle-aged man, so she quickly raised her chin and looked up.

In the next second, an expressionless face suddenly burst into sight.

“Little girl.” Uncle Zhang stoically murmured, “Is your group bulling this child? Does the teacher allow you to do this?”

Although Uncle Zhang is over 40 years old, he is tall and strong, and always kept a gentlemanly grinning expression.

At first glance, it was frightening.

The girls were completely frightened. For a short time, their faces were pale from terror, and they ran away in the blink of an eye.

The girl who was still being grabbed by Uncle Zhang wanted to run away with her group, but seeing her wrist still held in a tight grip, she became anxious. With only a little pressure, she instantly became a paper tiger [1] .

Shen Yu saw Lei Yumeng sitting on the ground trembling, he shook his head and said to Uncle Zhang, “Let her go.”

Uncle Zhang immediately let the girl go and she instantly jumped out of their sight, like a frightened rabbit.

Shen Yu asked Uncle Zhang to help Lei Yumeng stand up. He saw that Lei Yumeng's cheeks were very red and swollen. He could even see two obvious palm marks.

But Lei Yumeng, as if she could not feel any pain, only fixed her disorderly hair with a slightly blank expression. She looked at Shen Yu with grat.i.tude.

“Thank you, big brother Shen Yu.” Lei Yumeng said in a hoa.r.s.e voice, “If you hadn't come, maybe I wouldn't be able to go home today. [2] “

This sentence made Shen Yu frown. He said, “If you want, I can pa.s.s a few words to your head teacher.”

“No need. Thank you big brother Shen Yu.” Lei Yumeng immediately shook her head like a little rattle drum. Her face was full of rejection and fear. “I can solve this problem myself.”

Seeing this, Shen Yu decided to stop talking about it.

Just now, he had heard the girls' words intermittently, talking about breaking up and getting beaten up, Shen Yu could easily link these keywords together. Nine chances out of ten this should be a problem caused by love.

For this kind of thing…